§ 7. Dr. Mawhinneyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much, in grants, was paid by his Department to the Richmond Fellowship in the last financial year.
§ Mr. MellorJust over £142,000.
§ Dr. MawhinneyBefore my hon. Friend grants any more public money to the fellowship, will he consider its suitability for receiving it? Will he bear in mind our experience in Peterborough, where a so-called cured and model patient was sent by the fellowship to reassure my constituents about a proposed halfway house? A few weeks later that "model patient" stabbed and strangled his companion to death and has now been sentenced. We were assured by the fellowship that its halls were well supervised, yet the body lay in one for three days before it was even discovered.
§ Mr. MellorMy hon. Friend has raised this matter with the Department and the fellowship. His remarks will be given the most careful consideration. It has been our experience that the fellowship deals effectively with many difficult resettlement cases. It has been on that basis that successive Governments have granted it money, which sum presently constitutes about £142,000.